AUCKLAND BUTTER INDUSTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 75, 1 April 1897, Page 2

AUCKLAND BUTTER INDUSTRY.

SINGULAR ATTITUDE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURES.

ISOISIVE LETTER BY MR SPRAGG.

Tax following correspondence has lately passed batween Mr W. Spragg, manager oi the New Zealand Dairy Association, and Mr Ritchie, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture.

Department of Agriculture, Wellington, New Zealand, 27 bh February, 1897. .Sir, —l beg to hand you copy of Mr Thornton's report on butter ex Rotomahana from Auckland for transhipment to tho b.B. Ruapehu.. I have no doubt but thab yon have already been advised by your ageafc of the condition of tho shipment on arrival. I will therefore only say that unless better arrangements are made for the proper coastal conveyance of bubter to final port of shipment, it will bo nocessary for the department to consider whether the present facilities for freezing provided at Auckland can be continued. Tho treat*. mens the parcel above referred bo has received has not only damaged ib, bub will have a detrimental effect on the produce of the whole colony.—l have the honor ffo be, I Sir, your obedient servant, — • v John D. Ritchie, Secretary. Wesley Spragg, Esq., New Zealand Dairy AsßOciabioa, Auckland.

Government Cool Stores,

Wellington, 23rd February, 1897. Sir, —Tho Rotomahana arrived at this port on Friday, the 19bh, from Auckland, with 1070 boxes and 611 kegs of bubter. At 8.30 a.m. wenb down Kotomahana's hold and had a good many kegs and bexes opened and found the temperature ran in the centre of butter from 42 to 4S, and outside from 46 to 52. Bubter quite sofb and could push floating thermometers into same quite easily. I then called the attention of the Chief Engineer of the Kuapohu to see butter down Rotomahaua's hold before starting. He came down with Capfc. Rose and the Captain of bhe Kuapohu and they decided thab they would nob take butter in that condition. I then wenb and informed Mr Heabon, representative of the Auckland JDairy Association, on the matter, and he insbrucbed bhab butter should be forwarded bo the Meat Export Company to bo frozen agaiu. The bubter was then carted from Rotomahana to Meat Export, and the boxes in chamber were battened down, and on Monday the 22nd insb., at 7 a.m., butter was thoroughly frozen and placed on board the Ruapehu. I noticed tho appearaace of the boxes was far from being satisfactory. Tho brands wore very illegible and boxes .dirty when coming oub of bhe Rotomahana. The bemperature of Rotomahaua's hold prior to butter being pub in ab Auckland was 69, and the temperature on arrival at this port was 59degs. The number of hours butter in Rotomahana, 55.—Yours obediently, (Sd.) A. A. Thornton.

Auckland, N.Z.,

March 24th, 1897,

Mr J: D. Ritchie, Secretary Department of Agriculture, Wellington. Sir,—Your letter of February 27ch, which covered a copy of your Wellington grader's reporb upon shipment of butter per Rotomahana, reached me in due course. The delay in replying thereto, for which I apologieo; is due te my having waited for information upou the subject. J. am sorry to have come to the conclusion thab your officer has failed to give our interests, and through us tho interests of dairying in the Auckland district generally, the protection and assistance which may reasonably have been expected from •your branch of the Government service. A perusal *of thb '" reporb ' Suggests tbab your grader's conclusions were arrived at upon less information than the importance of the case warranted. Indeed, were not such a suggestion altogether inadmissible i should tear that both it and bho irrelevant strictures of your letter, togebher with the needless waste for which your department is responsible, were the result of an intention mosb unfriendly to my Association's business, and to the dairying industry of the Auckland district The opinion which you express that it will be necessary for your department to " consider whether the present freezing facilitieci provided for Auckland can be continued " ia unfortunate in being conuected with your presenb treatment of Auckland interests.

I may premise thab space waß actually booked upon the Takapuna, by which we have hitherto sent our butter, bub owing to the overlapping of engageiaaonts by the Union Steamship Company, I was induced to accept space in the Rotomahana. To have insisted upon the butter in question going by the Takapuna would havo been bo have shut out some of our Tarauaki neighbours, who equally with ourselves had ■offered from the lack of home freight space and were anxious to geb their goode away. Under the special circumstances the Union Company were good enough to reserve the forehold of their Rotomahana, which, besides tho usual bulk-head between the compartments, is separated from the engine-room by a coal • bunker of m hundred tons capacity. Our bubter which weighs over 70 tons in weight, frozen down to aboub 20deg. of temperature, was stowed without break from tho flooring of the hold. It was anticipated thab a small portion near tho top would gather some beat from the deck above, but ib was confidently expected by experts here that on reaching Wellingto-. tho average temperature would be below freezing point. Your grader's reporb does not furnish evidence that this expectation was not realised. I find that your grader says: "At 8.30 wenb down Rotomakana's hold and had a goad many kegs aud boxes opened, and found thab the temperature ran in two centre of tho butter from 42 to 48 degrees, and outside from 46 to 52." On previous occasions your graders have passed bubter aba higher temperature than that, and tho shipping companies have accepted it. Indeed, 1 have always found both bhe Shaw-Saville and the New Zealand Shipping Companies most willing to facilitate business. The passing of the comparatively high temperature butter ha? in overy case been entirely in the intercata of the industry of the colony. In the uuso under question oven the few packages which could be examined without di-charg-ing the vassal, and which, because of their position, were likely to have gathered more heab than any other portion of the shipment, wore only from 42 to 52 degrees Fahrenheit, while tho bulk was doubtless much below freezing, and yet this was condemned. I romind you thab your grader explains that he "wenb down into the hold," etc, and "fonnd temperature " etc. The Union Company advise mo thab " only a superficial inspection of the "shipment could be made without discharging ib." There is no evidence bhab any other examination took placo. Indeed, all the information which I have obtainod goes to show that ib was upon this tesb bhab your grader's action was taken. Thab is, upon this " superficial " examination of the packages most likely to be affected by heab, your officer undertook to forbid the shipment of cur seventy tons oi batter. My Wellington advices say, " Saw Captain Rose, and the ongineer of bhe Ruapehu, and they informed me that ib (bhe butter) could not go on board against the instructions of bhe Government Inspector/ Your department could nob but have been aware of the extremities to which we were reduced, and the losses which we had already suffered

through the delay caused by the several mishaps in shipping matters during the two or three months preceding. It also might have known that the usual channel between here and Wellington was given up by ourselves in the interests of colonial dairying, and ib ia hardly credible that under these circumstances it should have used its position to hamper and waste as ib has done. I have referred to tha ill-considered conclusions which your letter contains. You say " the treatment which the parcel referred to has received has nob only damaged ib, bub will havo a detrimental eflecb upon the produce of bhe colony." I suppose this to mean thab ib is your opinion that the butter in question will reach England in a damaged and inferior condition and bhab this condition will prejudice the reputation of New Zealand bubber generally. For the present ib will bo sufficient for me bo say I know something of the bubter in que«^on, and of the probable effecb upon ib o! *-. small portion having reached the temtaarature of 52 degrees, and thab in »y judgment i6B quality for sale purposes has not been depreciated the value of sixpence upon bho whtt&ti. parcel of 70 bons. I shall, later on, if you requiro'ib, bo glad to give you proof bhab upon reaching England its qualiby, condition, and general sale value is equalto anything carried by the same vessel. lam naturally annoyed ab this unwarrantable reflecbion upon my business, bub I desire to address you with courtesy, and therefore content myself by asking you to try bo imagine how libble of pleasure ib weuld ba possible for you to get oub of a suggestion such as you make if you were bhe recipient of ib instead of being the writer. I am referring the Wellington Meat Freezing Company to you for paymenb of bhe freezing accounb. Any other accounts in bhis connecbion which como to hand I will also send to you. As your department's lack of care and judgmenb aro responsible for having incurred these extra expenses, I expect bhab you will sebble them.

I have already referred to the paragraph in your letter thab "unless bettor arrangements are made for the proper coastal conveyance of bubber bo bho final porb of shipment ib will bo nocesaary for the department to consider whether the presenb facilities lor freezing provided ab Auckland caoi bo continued." Better provision for taoaatal carriage we shall very gladly hail. This is a matter in which your department may be of the greatest service. You will speak for the whole of the coAst, and doubtless with effecb. Any information or assistance which I can give to enable you to obbain these advantages shall be at your service. I am sorry that bhe question of Auckland storage is again .raißed. I cannob suppose that you seriously desire thab this districb shall nob have bhe advantages which aro ijiven to every considerable district in the colony, I assume thab the time will come when bhe whole of the help now given to dairying will be withdrawn. When thab happens we shall be content, but while the present sysiem exists, Auckland, which from its position requires more rather than less help, will ask for ab loasb the same advantages as are given to other districts. Should you desire ib, I will seb forbh ab length the reasons why the present sypbem of storing here is beab. These reasona'are numerous, so I refrain from adding them to this already very lengthy letter, especially as they must bo evident to anyone who knows anything of tho business worked as it i 3 and must bo worked at this extreme end of the colony. Awaiting tho favour of your further communications, I am. yours faithfully, Wesley Spragg, Manager of N.Z. Dairy Association.'